Greetings. New Zealand naturopath, Eric Bakker, author of Candida Crusher and formulator of the Canxida range of dietary supplements. Thank you again for tuning into my video. I really appreciate you watching my videos. This is the third one in a three-part series on how to recognize the Candida patient. I did one previously on how to recognize the female patient who you suspect has Candida. I’ve just done one on the male and this is the third one. How to recognize a child with a yeast infection. I’ll read a bit more out of my book.

A child with Candida can be mislabeled hyperactive or learning disabled by a practitioner who does not fully understand the true significance of pediatric yeast syndrome. Dr. William Crook, who wrote the Yeast Syndrome, was a pediatrician who noticed that many of his young patients would improve significantly once the yeast overgrowth was eradicated. It’s a pity that many pediatricians today do not have the same level of clinical experience with intestinal dysbiosis and children’s health that Dr. Crook had.

Children who have Candida may manifest multiple allergic syndromes that can affect them on many different levels. These children can even display behavioral and learning difficulties as a result of individual reactions to foods, chemicals and preservatives and may be linked to a Candida yeast infection. In my clinical experience, some children do not need drugs like Ritalin after all. Particularly, if they are first assessed and treated for allergies and carefully screened for Candida and yeast infections or SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Like Dr. William Crook, I’ve certainly noticed over the years that children who have both behavioral and learning disabilities as well as yeast infections display a marked reduction of symptoms once the Candida is eliminated, much to their parents’ relief.

A very important part of Candida treatment with children is getting them away from sweets as much as possible. And a good way to start is by eliminating all soda drinks, candy, sweets, and unnecessary food and drink items. This can present as a challenge and you will find it an easier task with younger as opposed to older children. Believe me, I have four children, and I know how difficult it can be, but it is achievable. Especially if you offer your child fruits instead of highly processed sweets, ice cream, candy and soda drinks. Even though fruits contain sugar, they don’t contain the same kind of sugar as you would give straight out candy or ice cream. Give them diluted juices to step them down.

A case comes to mind. About a year ago, of a lady who brought me a five-year-old boy with an incredible attitude problem. In my room, he was pulling all my books off the shelf. He was jumping on the furniture and he was very disruptive. The mom told me that she was feeding him one and half kilograms of cheese a week. That equates to I think about three or four pounds of cheese in a week. Just giving him big slices whenever he was screaming. I mentioned to her about this connection with the molds, potentially the allergies and the behavior, and she was a little bit. “How can that cause any problems?” But the amazing thing is when the child was brought back in about six weeks, he sat there on the chair with his hands folded on his lap and didn’t move. And she said to me, “It’s incredible how he’s changed.” And it was just the cheese. Food is really, in some cases, linked up to behavioral problems, so just pay attention to that.

How do you recognize a child potentially with a yeast infection? Let’s read some things out of my book here. The case history will often tell you if you’re dealing with a child who has Candida or not. I regularly have naturopathic students who sit in for observations in my clinic, and I like them to be aware of the importance of case taking when it comes to children in the clinic, especially. A case well taken is a case half solved. What happened in the past is probably one of the most important questions you can ask a mother? It’s surprising how when you ask a mother when her child was prescribed an antibiotic in relation to her child’s health problem, time and again, we will see the relationship with the antibiotic and the effect on the bowel, skin, immune, behavior or other problem. Many children I see have had recurring antibiotics given, and you can actually see the breakdown in health each time these were given.

Look for the child who has a strong sweet or sugar craving especially. Careful questioning during the case taking will illicit this crucial information. While it is not true all children who crave sugar will have Candida, it is true that most all children with Candida have very strong sugar cravings. Don’t just look for a craving or a strong desire for candy or sweets. Look for the desire to consume orange juice, soda or fizzy drinks, dried fruits, dates, figs, lots of chewing gum, biscuits and a host of foods high in sugar. And often with this craving, you’ll see the behavioral attitude with it. If the child’s not given this, you’re going to get crying, screaming and you’re going to get all these problems associated with not giving or placating to that child’s desires. Look for the child who eats many pieces of fruit every day.

If there has been a history of recurring antibiotic prescribing before the onset of the digestive problem, you can almost guarantee there will be some kind of a yeast problem or SIBO, a bacterial problem. A child with recurring worm infections or worm infestations. Itchy anus, for example. Does the child have an itchy anus or complain of sore tummies routinely? There could be sweet craving underlying again. Suspect the yeast infection in children who get recurring worm problems.

Children who live with one parent. Listen to this one. And then spend every second weekend with the other parent. This is often the case with separated or divorced parents. Therefore, always ask the question, “Does Johnny live with one or both parents?” It is surprising how many times I’ve heard, “Oh, no. In fact, he lives with his father half the time.” In cases such as this, you may find the child will be spoiled with one of the parents with lots of sweets or things that the child desires, and the other one may be ultra-strict. That could be an issue.

The child may be very awful at the mom’s place, for example, not getting the sweets and very nice at dad’s where he or she is getting the sweets. Beware of grandparents or what we call the outlaws. They sometimes feel it is their right to be able to give the child special treats “sweets or ice cream or candy.” I found that when the child stays with one parent, on the alternate weekend swap, or with a grandparent, there may be behavioral changes or worsening of the symptoms. In this case, you want to carefully assess the diet. Again, ask the questions.

Abdominal pain that is undiagnosed by a bowel specialist. Think about dysbiosis, including parasites and/or yeast infections. Once you’ve concluded there is not fecal loading like severe impaction or constipation, treat for a yeast infection. Sometimes an abdominal x-ray or an ultrasound is required to see if there is any abdominal obstruction going on there.

A child living in a cold, damp or moldy environment who is always sick. He will need to be moved to a better environment before you begin to work on the Candida eradication. In New Zealand, we’ve got a lot of children who live in drafty, cold, leaky homes. I had a consultation with a lady in Denmark yesterday whose house was also quite moldy. Because I put up a video on mold, she realized that that was her problem. And then she carefully looked in the bedroom and she saw some mold up on the top. She started to understand that she was always getting worse in the beginning of winter and in spring and summer she cleared up. She put one and one together and she worked out it was the mold that was causing the problem.

Any child on pharmaceutical drugs long term. Does the child take asthma drugs like Ventolin, salbutamol, or a steroid preventative inhaler? Perhaps a recurrent prescription of an analgesic, anti-depressant or other medication. Routinely, you’ll see children with drug induced sickness and yeast infection. And a lot of children’s medications can be high in sugar as well. You’d be surprised to know how many cough medicines contain sugar.

Any child with a current bladder or urinary tract infection. Obviously, you’ll want to rule out diabetes or other blood sugar issues. Any underlying urinary issues that can be ruled out by a urologist, for example. But if there are recurrent urinary tract infections or bladder issues, then you may want to treat for a yeast infection. Any kind of recurring infections in the gut of bacterial or yeast in origin. Carefully check them out.

A child with recurrent ear, nose, throat, respiratory or sinus infection. Once again, suspect antibiotic use and in some cases, you’ll be surprised to learn that the child was never well since antibiotics. Any child you suspect of being celiac. Always check for bacterial, yeast or parasite infection long before you consider a gluten allergy or intolerance. Because it’s more likely the child will have an issue with yeast rather than gluten. Does the child crave sweet foods or drinks? Has there been a history of antibiotic use? Has the child traveled or been on holidays before diagnosis of being celiac? Did the kid pick up a parasite somewhere? More importantly, was the celiac diagnosis based on a biopsy or was it just basically through a blood test? Because blood testing is not always an accurate indicator of celiac.

Last but not least. The child with the terrible attitude. I’ve often seen children in my clinic presenting with behavioral problems and sometimes severe. No doubt like many naturopaths, I’m not saying for one moment that all children with behavioral issues have a Candida infection, but a surprising number do. How do you distinguish between a child with a yeast infection who does not appear to fit in with the family dynamics and a child who has autism?

What I do is look at the child’s diet and how strongly the child craves certain food items as a starting point. Many yeast infected children will have a craving for certain foods as strong as their attitude and they even rule the household and simply demand these foods. These are the children with food allergies as well. Many of them have an allergy toward sugar. Dr. Crook picked that one up a long time ago that the sugar craving is the strongest craving. And often the strongest craving can dictate the strongest allergy. And the strongest allergy can dictate the strongest behavioral problem. So if you’ve got that food sorted, you may well have the behavioral problem sorted and be more easy to manage the child.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel if you can. I appreciate your support. Also check out yeastinfection.org if you want to have a look at the internet’s best source of information for Candida yeast infection you’ll find on that site. And check out Canxida.com for some of the best products online. Thanks again for tuning in. I appreciate it.

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